Thanks for the heads up on the accelerator pump pistons Frank. Although it turned out that my problem was limited to the distributor, it never hurts to know what other problems can be expected when dealing with a specific carburetor. Actually, I ended up re-using the leather cup that was in the teapot when I tore it down. Evidently the carb was rebuilt not too long before the car went into storage so the cup was in excellent condition.

Paul, thank you for the link to Ted Eaton's site...like this site, his is an excellent source of information. The Teapot compatibility article definitely put me on the right track and the first thing I did this morning was to disconnect the steel vacuum line from the carburetor and plug the port. I did this before I even fired the car up cold since as I had previously stated, anything above an idle hot or cold and the car would run rough therefore with the choke plates closed and the throttle positioned on the high step of the cam, the little 292 fired up and ran about as smooth as anyone could ask it too. I readjusted the air fuel mixture and advanced the timing just a little but have not had the opportunity to take it out for a test drive. Ted's article mentioned that the mechanical advance may be sufficient to serve the purpose therefore I will wait until after the test drive to take any further steps. I can say that I'm certainly glad that the car didn't have the Load-a-Matic distributor on it since most seem to agree that it was problematic from day one. Will report back after test drive.
Thanks Again,
Gary

While Paul is correct about the distributor, I think your problem may well be the accelerator pump in the carb. With the engine OFF remove the air cleaner and check to see if there is fuel coming from the tubes at the top of the primaries. The accelerator pistons currently supplied in the rebuild kits seem to stick in the pump well. Also check to make sure you reinstalled the check ball in the bottom of the accelerator pump well. Without that you'll have no pump action at all. I have the same issue with my own 4000, and it typically is the piston.



Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

First, if your distributer is a '57 or later unit, it's not compatible, (without modifications) to run with the Holley 4000 teapot carburetor. Your advance system will not work properly. Our moderator, Ted Eaton, has written an article about this subject, originally in Y-Block magazine. If you link from the opening page here to Eaton Balancing, then to the articles section, you will find his article on modifications to allow the 4000 carb to work with the later distributors..    


Paul

Hi All, I'm new here to the forum and not familiar with the process for performing a search on the subject so if someone can help me out with some instructions I would greatly appreciate it. Meanwhile, I have a '55 Mercury Montclair 2dr Hardtop with the original Holley 4000 Teapot and Merc-O-Matic tranny. I purchased this original 6 volt system non running car back in late June of this year and since then have been slowly waking it up from a long, LONG hibernation. I have no idea how long it sat up but the gas tank was a nightmare to de-rust, prepare and reseal. The next step was to purchase a quality kit for the Teapot from Daytona Carburetor and perform a complete and thorough rebuild including fabricating new primary throttle shaft bushings and adding a new vintage Carter canister type fuel filter. l have replaced the plugs, points, condenser, cap, rotor and coil and have new plug wires standing by. The car has a new water pump, thermostat, fuel pump, voltage regulator, starter solenoid, battery, battery cables, belts and hoses and I just finished fabricating new steel fuel lines and vacuum lines. The car now fires right up and I have logged approximately 150 to 175 miles onto the odometer since wake-up. My tester was giving me a fit when I was performing the compression test however ultimately all cylinders were confirmed as being within the 130 to 140 lb. range. I am now at the point of wrapping up the engine work which brings me to the point of my subject, rough running off idle. The idle is absolutely perfect and the sound of the 292 at the duel rear exhausts is as sweet as it gets. Anything above idle turns into what almost sounds like a V-8 running a slightly modified cam. Driving characteristics include a slight off idle hesitation (not noticed when operating throttle in neutral) and a noticeable but not drastic surging can be observed at cruising speeds. Otherwise, from a wide open start the throttle response is impressive and the 292 is powerful enough to break the tires loose and at cruising speeds the combination of the transmission downshift and carburetor secondary's opening up make the little V-8 feel like a larger engine. The air fuel mixture screws respond very well to adjustments and I honestly do not believe that I have any vacuum leaks or that the carburetor is dripping any raw fuel into the intake. So here I am looking for ideas from others who have experienced the same off idle roughness and what the ultimate cure was. (Forgot to mention that at some point the distributor was changed out for a single diaphragm vacuum advance model most likely from a '57 Ford)
Thanks in Advance,
Gary T
Starke, FL.